JACK Quartet to lose two founding members

Tue Jul 12, 2016 at 11:46 am
The JACK Quartet's final New York concert of original members takes place July 19.

The JACK Quartet’s final New York concert with its original members takes place July 19.

You won’t know JACK. At least not right away.

The JACK Quartet, renown for its intense dedication to contemporary music, is losing two of its founding members.

Violinist Ari Streisfeld is leaving the New York-based ensemble after 11 years to take up a professorship at the University of South Carolina. Cellist Kevin McFarland told the New York Times  that he plans to devote more time to composition and solo playing in Denver, where he moved last year.

Violist John Pickford Richards and violinist Chris Otto will remain with the group.

Violinist Austin Wulliman of the Spektral Quartet, will leave the Chicago-based ensemble to join JACK. The group’s new cellist will be Jay Campbell, who won a 2016 Avery Fisher career grant.

The group will keep the JACK title, even though the acronym of the original members’ first names no longer adds up.

The final New York concert of original JACK members will take place July 19 with music of Steve Reich at the Lincoln Center Festival.


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